Star Wars: Battlestar Rising
by 117Jorn
Summary: The 12 Colonies have fallen, and Galactica's fleet continues to find any signs for the thirteenth tribe. However, during one faitful encounter, the colonial fleet meet with the Imperial Star Destroyer Visage, beginning a series of events which will see the rise of the Imperial Remannts, and the liberation of the 12 Colonies.


**39 ABY**

 **Kalee System - ISD _Visage_**

* * *

The planet of Kalee was known mostly for being the homeworld of Kaleesh, the species whom the infamous Clone Wars Commander General Grievous was a part of. The world had come a long way since the Clone Wars, and the Huk War, having been revitalized thanks to the InterGalactic Banking Clan during the conflict from so long ago, and has continued to flourish under the control of the Imperial Remnants, being among the many star systems they maintained hold over after the Galactic Civil War, and was one of the lucky planets which did not suffer from the Yuuzhan Vong invasion.

The planet itself wasn't of any true strategic importance, but it was still a planet that Imperial vessels would patrol. But this was not the case for the _Imperial II_ -class Star Destroyer _Visage_ as it prowled over the system.

"I must ask commander, why the _Visage_?" Captain Rosso said, standing on the bridge of the ISD. "We're usually tasked with exploration duties, why pick our vessel for the refit?"

"Its for that exact reason I picked your ship, Captain." The reply came from a young man, wearing a full set black and red Stormtrooper armor, with his helmet off revealing his short spikey black hair, and his crimson red eyes, looking to be in his mid thirties or late twenties. "I can't just pull any ship off-duty for the refit, I wanted to start with a ship that doesn't normally see combat, so it would be easier to begin the mods without any interruptions. Plus, if anything were to go wrong - which I doubt it will - it won't severely impact the military's fighting capacity."

The captain sighed, shaking his head "I still don't like this... " he said, " _Visage_ is an old ship..."

"A ship which has been in service since Endor, and has continued to function since." Jaden Takeo said with a smile, "The Admiral Pellaeon approves of this. Plus this will fix the largest issue we've had with all ships in the galaxy - deflector and ray shields only block either projectiles or energy weapons, _never_ both, and that design flaw has been exploited time and time again. I think it's time we fixed that."

"And how do you plan on testing this?" The Captain asked.

"We'll be heading out towards an asteroid field in a star system in wild space," Jaden said, "From there we'll test the shield's resilience against physical kinetic impacts. The Star Destroyer _Goliath_ will join us in a few hours, and will help test its abilities to repel energy weapons while we are still in the field. As long as they work, the new shields should repel both the asteroids, as well as Concussion missiles, photon torpedoes, and the turbolaser batteries at once."

"So we're being used for target practice?"

"Just consider it a live-fire exercise."

The Captain sighed, but shook his head "Well, it's not like we have much choice." He said, "Helm, prepare the Hyperdrive to head for the coordinates. Best we get this over with."

"I'll see you when we arrive, Captain." Jaden said nodding as he walked off of the bridge. "I'll be in the hangar working on my fighter."

* * *

 **Meanwhile - Asteroid Field**

* * *

A single horseshoe-shaped fighter flew through the potato-shaped rocks, chased by a tri-engine fighter.

"All right, Scar, let's see how much you like playing chicken when you can't download, you bitch." Kara Thrace fired her wingtip-mounted 30mm cannons at the Raider known to them as Scar.

The Raider spun around, firing blue tracers at the Mk VII Viper. "How's it feel, you bastard?" She said, "One of us is gonna have to break away first and it isn't gonna be me!"

" _Starbuck he's a machine!_ " Kat shoutd on the Comm, " _He's not gonna break!_ "

Starbuck paused as she stared down at the incoming Cylon Raider as it fired its guns at her. Though her mind wasn't on the battle… she was thinking about Anders, the man she left behind on Caprica, and promised to rescue… something she couldn't do if she died here.

"Godsdamnit!" She shouted as she broke off her CBDR run, as Scar passed right over her before he spun around and started chasing her. "I'm gonna put him right in fraking front of you, do _NOT_ Miss!"

" _Copy that-OH SHIT!_ " Kat shouted, " _Uh, Starbuck! Problem! Baseship!_ "

"WHAT?!" Starbuck shouted as she flew over the Asteroid with the Cylon ace behind her. "How did that get here?!"

" _I don't know! But they're 500 Meters out, and Raiders are launching!_ " Kat shouted, " _We gotta warn the_ Majahual!"

"Oh Fraking damnit!" Starbuck shouted, as she dodged Scar's bursts of weapons fire. "Can this day get any worse?!"

* * *

 **Meanwhile - ISD _Visage_**

* * *

The Star Destroyer emerged from Hyperspace as it appeared just outside of the asteroid field before them. "Jump is complete, Captain." One of the officers said, "We're just outside the Canterse Spread."

"Alright, inform the Commander we've arrived." Rosso informed, "Begin maneuvering the _Visage_ into the spread, and power up the shields. Let's hope-"

"Sir, I am picking up signals coming from the field." The Sensors operator said, causing the Captain to raise an eyebrow.

"What kind of signals?" He asked.

"I thought they were civilian traffic, but they don't match known frequencies," He said, "They seem to be using an older communications frequency… _really_ old, actually. I'm also picking up metallic readings indicating starships."

"Can we launch a probe droid?" He asked.

"Not with all of the asteroids - it would get crushed without shielding."

The captain scratched his chin for a moment, "Contact the Commander in the hangar," he said, "Have him head out in that fighter of his… and that Mandalorian friend of his as well."

"Yes sir."

* * *

"How DID you get one of these?" One of the technicians asked, as Jaden worked on the Starfighter in the hangar bay - a TIE/IN Interceptor Royal Guards type. "I heard these were only commissioned by Palpatine himself..."

"I found it at Coruscant, believe it or not." Jaden said as he used a Hydrospanner to seal up a bolt. "It crashed in some junk heap, probably during the battle during the civil war… took me years to bring her back up to spec, but force was it worth it. Got plenty of kills with it, though I stopped counting when I got to the triple digits. Most Vong kills, though with a fair share of Kilik and Pirate kills."

"Damn..." He said, "What's it like flying it?"

"Well… I'm just glad I'm not flying _for_ Palpatine." He said shaking his head. "Fucking bastard is the reason the Imperial Remnants is the _remnants_ now..."

"But… he formed the Empire-"

"And look where we are now that he's dead." Jaden said with a light growl as he rolled his eyes. "All of the Moff's and Admirals were dependent on the Emperor and Vader to lead to the point when they died, everyone started running around like chickens with their heads cut off. The only man who was able to keep us all together was Thrawn…"

"Yeah… I guess..." the tech said, shaking his head, before he glanced to the other side of the hangar. "Though what 'bout your Mando friend with the X-wing?" Referring of course to the T-65AC4 X-Wing Starfighter sitting at the opposite end of the hangar, being maintained by a figure clad in Mandalorian Armor.

The armor itself was colored dark green with brown and black trim, with the suit under it colored a dark tan. The helmet was removed, revealing a young man with military crew cut brown hair, brown eyes, and a fair skin tone. He stood at an even 6 foot, and had a couple scars over his right eye, and the left corner of his mouth.

"Oh, Boc? Well, you can say he's a lot like Jaster Mereel from the Mando Civil War years ago," he said, "He just wants to make sure what happened during and before the clone wars never happens to the Mandalorians again… and keeping Boba from doing anything he'll regret."

" _Commnader Takeo,_ " Rosso's voice spoke on the comm, causing Jaden to pick it up. "Yes?"

" _I need you to head out and investigate something._ " He said, " _We've got sensor readings of ships in the asteroid field, but signals don't match with anything we know. Not Vong, Alliance or Chiss._ "

"Pirates maybe?" Jaden asked.

" _I doubt even pirates would use comm signals this old._ " Rosso said, " _Investigate and report back - and bring that Mando friend of yours if you need back up._ "

He sighed "Roger that, I'll head out." He said as he turned the comm off. "Yo Boc! Suit up! We're heading out!"

Boc looked at Jaden, smirking before giving a thumbs up before he grabbed his helmet, colored dark green with brown trim around the t-visor, and placed it on his head.

"Geesix. Mount up!" he said, as a green/brown colored R2 astro droid beeped in the affirmative and used it's rockets to head up onto the X-Wing, and into it's slot, just as Boc got into the cockpit.

Jaden nodded as he hopped into the hatch of his TIE Interceptor, closing behind him as he began the start-up sequence as the twin ion engines activated, making the familiar screaming sound that was the bane to many rebels during the first civil war. "Alright Boc, no idea what's going on out there, but stay on my wing, and don't shoot till we know what's what, got it?"

 _"Copy that, Jaden,"_ he said, and then the Imperial Commander heard him chuckle, causing him to blink.

"What?" he asked.

" _It's ironic don't you think?_ " Boc said, " _You in a TIE, and me in a X-Wing, ships that were on opposite sides of the Civil War, now fighting side by side. Talk about unusual bunk mates_ "

Jaden blinked at that before he chuckled a bit "True… though it gets really funny considering you're a Mando, flying an Alliance X-wing, working for the Empire." He said, "Come on, let's see what's going on out there." With that said, the TIE Interceptor floated up into the air alongside the X-wing, before both fighters flew out of the _Visage_ towards the asteroid field.

* * *

30mm cannon fire grazed Starbuck's wing, and the ace spun the fighter around to shoot at the enemy Raiders on her tail, destroying one of them and sending another spiraling into an asteroid.

But 40 Vipers of both the Mark II and VII marks were not a match for over 700 Raiders. They could kill MOST of the dumb bastards, but they would be overwhelmed without help from Pegasus.

And their chances of getting ANY help from _Pegasus_ were slim to none: a Raptor wouldn't get back to _Pegasus_ without getting shot down.

This was the sight which welcomed Jaden and Boc as their respective fighters arrived at the outside of the battlezone. " _Jaden… what's going on here?_ " The Mando asked.

"I have no idea..." Jaden said shaking his head. "They don't look Alliance or Chiss… those fighters kinda look like X-wings… what do your sensors say?"

" _Same as yours… I can't tell if their weapons are DEW's or KEW's though._ " Boc admitted, " _They look like energy weapons… but I don't know..._ "

"We'll be cautious then." Jaden said, "They're attacking that ship on the asteroid… those X-wing look-alikes look like they could use a hand."

" _You sure we just want to pick a side?_ " Boc asked.

"First off: they're fighting against three-to-one odds." Jaden said, "Second: Have you seen what those other fighters look like? Can you honestly tell me someone would design a fighter to look like _that_ and be a _good guy_?"

" _...Point taken, but we should call-_ "

"On it." Jaden said as he activated his comm. "Takeo to _Visage_ , we've got a hellstorm down here. I've got several hundred plus bogies fighting roughly fourtie friendlies defending an unknown vessel, and an enemy capital ship. We could use some backup here."

" _Roger that Commander, heading in now._ " Rosso said, " _ETA 20 minutes. We also received word from_ Goliath _, they'll be here soon with support._ "

"Roger that Captain." He said, "We'll head in there and give these guys a hand. Takeo Out." He turned the long-range comm off. "Alright Boc, let the games begin… highest kill count buys drinks?"

He could his friend chuckling on the comm, " _You're on,_ " he said and the two starfighters accelerated forward straight toward the chaos.

* * *

"FRAK! I should've known they'd call for reinforcements!" shouted Adama as he looked at the DRADIS screen which showed the Cylon Baseship along with hundreds of Cylon Raiders.

"We need to call off the mining operation, Bill, or we're going to get killed."

"I hate to agree. Tell the _Monarch_ and _Majahual_ to spool up and retreat."

Gaeta looked at his own screen. "Sir, I'm picking up two more ships. Unknown, fighter-sized."

"Frak, new ships?" Adama muttered, "Move _Galactica_ to firing position, try and draw the Baseship's fire away from the _Monarch_ and _Majahual_. Have someone check out those new contacts."

* * *

"Frak! FRAK!" Starbuck shouted as she flew through the asteroids as five Raiders chased her and Kat - Scar being among them. "Of ALL the time these guys could show up, its NOW?!"

" _Starbuck, asteroid ahead! Its Hollow!_ " Kat said, " _We can duck for cover there!_ "

"We'll limit our maneuver-" She began to say, before she saw several flashes of green behind her. Starbuck looked back, and saw four out of the five Raiders were reduced to molten metal, and even Scar wasn't unscathed as a burning hole was in its right wing. "The hell…?"

" _Starbuck! Twelve O-Clock High!_ " Starbuck looked up towards the sun, as she saw two craft flying towards them. One vessel looked almost like an eyeball with four pointed 'wings', and another looked a lot like a Viper, only with a set of X-like wings.

"The Frak?" She muttered as the two craft flew over them, diving into the battle below. She looked back as she saw the Eyeball chase after Scar, firing its green… well, energy beams, while the other craft chased after a heavy raider, unleashing a quad of red lasers.

The Heavy Centurion carrier, took only a few hits before it blew up into a fireball. The X-winged fighter then went after a duo of normal raiders chasing down a Mk. VII and immediately shot down one of the Raiders forcing the second to break, but the fighter close on it's six.

" _Starbuck... who are these guys?"_ Kat said, her voice not hiding her shock.

A Raider fired at the eyeball, the 30mm blue tracers impacting the panels, making a few small holes. And probably pissing off the pilot.

The eyeball spun around and fired no fewer then six cannons at the Raiders, a fury of green tearing into the Cylon fighters.

Make that SERIOUSLY pissed off.

" _-ou did NOT shoot them slugthrowers at me!_ " A voice said on the Comm, making Starbuck blink. " _Bring it on metal heads! No one fucks with the Empire and gets away with it!_ " She heard a growl as the Eyeball chased after another set of Raiders. " _Okay, okay… testing, one, two. Anyone on_ this _frequency? Can't go much lower than this one..._ "

Starbuck blinked before she answered the hail from the unknown.

"This is Captain Kara Thrace, callsign Starbuck, Battlestar _Galactica_ CAG. To Frak who am I talking to?" she said, and the response came back.

" _Ah! Finally! Someone, geez you need to upgrade your comm's._ " The response came, " _This is Commander Jaden Takeo, Imperial Navy. And the guy in the X-wing is Boc Werde, Mandalorian Mercenary. We saw you and your friends were in a pickle with these guys, thought we could lend a hand. What's your status, Starbuck?_ "

Kara blinked at the mention of Imperial Navy and Mandalorian, but deciding to ask later, she answered.

"Considering a few hits from that bitch Scar, I'm just peachy," she said.

" _Scar? Who is-_ " As he was talking, the said Raider ace fired another stream of Tracers at the eyeball, forcing Jaden into a corkscrew to avoid being hit as they flew by one another. " _SHIT! Nevermind, figured it out!_ " He U-turned his fighter to give chase to Scar. " _If your damaged, head back to your capital ship Starbuck. I'll handle this guy, reinforcements are on the way - Oh! Scratch that, they're here._ "

 **BGM: 'The Asteroid Field' Star Wars Episode V Soundtrack**

"Here? What are you-" She began to say, before a shadow came over her Viper, forcing her to look up… and her eyes widened and jaws dropped as she saw the massive dagger-shaped colossus of a starship prowl overhead, roughly the same size as _Pegasus_ in length alone, and out of a large ventral hangar sped out dozens of eyeball-shaped craft of similar design to Jaden's, speeding towards the Raiders and the Baseship.

Four eight-gun barbettes turned towards the baseship, before they unleashed 32 massive green bolts of energy, likely some kind of plasma bolts. The bolts impacted and warped the radial arms, actually snapping one off. The dagger was joined by Galactica, which fired her eight 600cm twin-gun turrets at the baseship, tearing into the baseship like the old girl and the Beast did a month or so earlier during the battle of the Resurrection Ship.

" _Oh shit._..," muttered Kat as she and Starbuck watched the baseship be turned into molten scrap right in front of them. "... _okay, seriously Starbuck, who the FRAK ARE THESE PEOPLE!?"_

"I don't know, Kat. But I think we shouldn't let our guards down."

* * *

"Baseship is breaking apart! Raiders are either jumping away or making suicide runs on the unknown." Adama gave Gaeta an acknowledgement before signalling Dualla to get the unknown on the horn.

"What the hell just happened here Bill?" said Tigh, "One moment we're about to end up like the rest of our people then these guys show up!"

"We'll find out when we get them on the horn. Dee?"

"Attention, unknown vessel." She said, "This is the Battlestar _Galactica_. Identify yourself."

Crackling was heard before a voice piped through over the PA. " _This is Captain Gabriel Rosso of the Imperial Star Destroyer_ Visage _to Battlestar_ Galactica." A voice - a very _human_ voice at that - spoke. " _What is your status, do you require assistance?_ "

Tigh scoffed. "Where do we START?"

Adama ignored his XO. "We were performing mining operations when we came under attack by the Cylons." He said, "We were about to jump out before you showed up."

"...Jump?"

"Jump. You do have an FTL drive, don't you?"

" _Oh, you mean a Hyperdrive?_ " Rosso asked, " _Don't see why you'd do it here, with all the asteroids would make you jump to lightspeed in pieces. But that aside, I hope you can explain who you are exactly. Your vessels don't match anything from known records from the Empire or the Galactic Alliance._ "

"We're from the 12 colonies of Kobol." He said, "The President can explain once we link up with the Fleet." He signalled Gaeta to spool up the FTL drives. They were getting the hell out of the asteroid field until they could get more protection.

* * *

 **ISD _Visage_**

* * *

"Sir, there's an energy buildup inside the Galactica. I can't be sure if they're powering weapons or activating their hyperdri-"

The sensor operator didn't get a chance to finish as the massive warship disappeared in a flash of light, followed by the two mining ships.

And even an IDIOT could realize that that was NOT hyperspace.

"...what the hell was that?" One of the crewmen asked.

"That... was either a very good trick, or some form of faster-than-light travel we don't know about." Rosso said, scratching his chin. "How long until the _Goliath_ arrives?"

"ETA 15 minutes, sir."

"Have our fighters CAP the area," He ordered, "Search for anymore of those… Cylons they called them, and have engineers bring what they can onboard. And I want Delta transports to land on that Cylon ship, I want engineering teams to salvage whatever we can, and figure out who these people are. Inform Commander Takeo and his friend that I want them part of the boarding contingency. If there are any survivors I want them alive - and prepare to send a message back to High Command."

"Yes sir!"

* * *

The ship was...strange. The stormtroopers attempted to burn through the hull, when some of the veterans of the Yuuzhan Vong War realized something.

The ship was made of organic material. "Damn it, it's the Vong all over again!" The Sergeant said. "I thought we were done dealing with this shit!"

The troopers all glanced at one another before deciding 'fuck it' and blowing the hull open, breaching it. "Commander, this is Alpha Squad: we've breached the hull! We're dealing with more nice-looking Vong, sir!"

" _This doesn't look like a Vong ship, Sergeant._ " Rosso said.

"No sir, but they are using some form of Organic technology, sir." The Sergeant said, "We're using a thermal detonator to blow a hole inside."

" _...proceed with caution, Sergeant._ " The Captan said, " _I want survivors, but don't hesitate to use lethal force if they're anything like the Vong._ "

"Yes sir." The Sergeant said, as the detonator blasted open a hole into the vessel, as the troopers slipped inside with their E-11b Blaster Rifles at the ready. Following closely behind them were none other than Jaden and Boc, both still clad in their armors as they dropped inside.

"It's not Vong, but it is organic..." Jaden said as they activated their helmet lights. "Geesix probably wouldn't be able to hack this… " he readied his own SE-14r light repeating blaster pistol, as he fingered a cyndrillical object on his belt. "Boc, you take half the team down that corridor, I'll take the Sergeant and the rest the other way. Keep your eyes peeled, and stay in commlink range."

"Copy that," Boc said, as he signaled for half of the boarding party to follow him, and the Stormtroopers acknowledged, with Geesix following close behind him.

"What do you think these Cylons look like?," said one of the Troopers of Jaden's team.

"No idea." Jaden said, "We know they must be large given the size of these corridors… we know they still use slugthrowers for weapons along with conventional missiles… we even detected a store of Nuclear weaponry as well, but they seem to have depleted whatever nukes they had already..." However he then heard a loud thunking sound, causing him to raise his hand, as the troopers stopped as well, raising their weapons forward.

At that moment, two very large Droids turned the corner, each one colored chrome with red eyes scanning left to right, and were very skeletal in appearance. Upon seeing them, their arms shifted from hands, into weapons. "Open Fire!" Jaden shouted, as he and the troopers quickly unleashed a salvo of blaster fire into the machines.

The machines didn't even have a chance to fire, as the blaster bolts boiled through their chrome plating like a hot knife through butter as the machines fell to the ground smoking.

"Down." Jaden said, as they lowered their weapons before they approached the downed machines. "Well… that's one scary looking droid."

Gunfire impacted the walls before they glanced up, seeing a man in a business suit firing at them with a hand-slugthrower.

He was human. Why the hell was a human on a clearly alien ship?

Jaden pulled out his E-11, as he fired the stun feature as the human was knocked down to the floor. "Cuff him, and prepare him for transport back to the _Visage_." He said, as two Troopers walked up to him. "Somethings not right here… and I want some fucking answers dammit."

* * *

The ship's Cavil kept his hands in the datafont, keeping himself informed on the status of the boarding parties. Most of the sixes, eights, twos and threes were all in the radial arms, and they were killed when _Galactica_ and the second vessel opened fire on the baseship. Add to that, all of the Raiders have jumped away or were destroyed. Needless to say, the One was not having a damn good day.

"Can somebody tell what the FRAK is happening!?" he shouted.

" _Intruders are advancing through deck B. The Force of the Gods has awakened to us, the truth will come forth. All missile batteries damaged, repairs delayed. End of Line._ " The Baseship's Hybrid continued to mutter out it's nonsense mixed with tactical data, all leading to one realization: they were Frakked.

"What the _hell_ is going on here, Cavil?" The last Number Three said with a panicked expression, "Who are these people?! They've frakking _energy weapons!_ "

"Their fighters have managed to cut through our Raiders like nothing, and their turning our Centurions into molten slag!" said the last surviving 8 with a cut on her brow, "How come we didn't see this coming!?"

The ship rocked from an explosion. The enemy was working their way inwards, securing section by section, disabling sections as they went. They could no longer blow up the basestar.

The 'Imperials' were about to take the ship. And they were all going to die.

The sound of weapons fire was heard as two of the last of their Centurions went to the entrance of the CIC, their guns replacing their hands as they waited for the enemy to arrive, however something was thrown at the Centurion's feet as a whirling sound was heard as the Cylon soldiers looked down, and the last thing they saw was a spherical object before it went boom, as a pulse of white energy hit the Centurions causing them to rattle and shake before their heads exploded. The Imperial troops poured in shortly after, as the Cylons opened fire, but to little avail as the advance Stormtrooper armor proved its worth against slugthrowers, as they fired their stun rounds which knocked out all of the humans within.

"We're clear!" Jaden shouted as they spread out across the bridge, as they cuffed the stunned crew. "Get them ready for transport, and figure out how the controls work."

" _75% of systems inoperable, the Gods were wrong all along._ " A voice said, as their attention was drawn to the human-ish… thing in the center of the bridge, a figure half submerged into a liquid.

"Uh...Sir? Why is there a lady in the tub? Better question: what the hell is a tub doing in the command center and what the fuck is she saying?"

One of the troopers looked at the tub, seeing cables and wires connecting to the woman's torso. "OH, SWEET GOD! THAT'S NOT RIGHT!"

"The fuck is this shit..." Jaden muttered as he hit the Comm. "Boc, where are you?"

 _"I'm in what looks like a hangar bay, caught a few of the crew. Humans by the look of it. Strange thing is, they look the same!"_ came Boc's voice, " _How are things on your end_?"

"Bridge is secured… but I'm looking at some… half human half… machine… thing in a tub of goo." Jaden said.

" _All functions offline. The Center cannot hold. Beginning before the end, the closer to the light, the greater their darkness grows. End of Line._ "

"...and muttering the weirdest gibberish I've ever heard." He finished.

"... _That does sound weird,"_ Boc said, " _I've almost got things wrapped up on my end. I head to your location indefinitely,"_

"Copy that," Jaden said, as he continued to look at the Hybrid, and kneeled down next to the tub to get a better look, "What the _hell_ are you?"

"Vestige _to boarding parties: the_ Goliath _has arrived in-system._ " Rosso spoke on the comm. " _We will be heading off to link up with this 'Fleet' using coordinates given to us by the_ Galactica. _Commander Takeo, please report back to the ship: you're our technical expert. And the 'Colonials' are the only friendlies that have access to this 'jump' drive._ "

"Understood, I'll head out now." He said, "Boc, finish things up here for me, I need to head back to the ship and take care of this."

" _You got it buddy._ "

* * *

With said Fleet, the only known survivors of the Fall of the 12 Colonies, were nervous when the _Galactica_ came, not just with some resources, but also news of a group of Humans called, the Imperial Fleet.

"A human-run warship? Using advanced weapons and fighters? Bill, that sounds like a godsend."

"Madam President, the Imperial ship didn't know about our FTL drives."

Roslin did not lose her smile as she shifted the handset to her left hand. "Admiral, Earth's people may not have developed FTL technology as we know it." She said, "They might have it, and they wouldn't know the terminology."

"Like you when you began the presidency."

Roslin sighed at that joke, but there were other issues, such as their long lost cousins. She then turned to Kara, and Kat who were standing at attention. "What can you tell me about their craft?" She asked.

"Most of the fighters looked… well, like eyeballs." Kara said, "Eyeballs with wings… but they were damn maneuverable, shredded through those Raiders like they were butter. There was another fighter with them though… oddly enough it… kinda reminded me of a Viper, but its wings were shaped like an X almost. And had energy weapons."

"Of course, there's the big dagger one that came in." Chimed in Kat, which Kara glared at her for that, "Just about as long as the _Pegasus_ , with the same type of weaponry, but more...devastating,"

"Enough to blow up a baseship?"

"Not entirely, madam president." Starbuck said, "They didn't want to blow it up. They wanted to capture it."

Roslin nodded. "A baseship in our hands would be a good thing. More intel from the cylons to help us survive. You're dismissed. Thank you."

The two pilots left the office, leaving only Roslin and Adama in the room. "Well, what do you think, Bill?" She asked.

"Too early to say..." he said, "But whoever these guys are, they make the Cylons look like a Joke… and they referred to something called a 'Galactic Alliance'."

Roslin face scrunched at that, "Hopefully, when we meet with them they'll explain the whole story to us," she said, before the intercom got their attention.

" _Admiral Adama to CIC, repeat, Admiral Adama to CIC_ ," came Dee's voice.

"I guess that's our cue," said Bill.

* * *

The ISD _Vistage_ dropped out of hyperspace, in full view of the fleet. "Sensor sweep, what do we got?" Rosso asked.

"Hmm..." Jaden said as he looked at the sensor readings. "Looks like… two capital ships of similar design, multiple civilian and cargo transports. All of them have some battle damage in some form or another. Sir, this seems more like a refugee fleet than anything."

Rosso hummed in thought as he nodded. "It does, doesn't it..." he muttered, "Refugee's from what though?"

"Odds are it's these… Cylons." Jaden said, "Who knows how long they've been fighting though..."

"Sir, picking up a signal from the vessel ID'd as _Galactica_." The comm operator informed, "It's that Adama guy again."

"Patch him through," Rosso said, "Admiral Adama, this is Captain Rosso."

" _This is_ Galactica Actual. _President Roslin wants to meet with you face-to-face, Admiral._ " The Colonial Admiral spoke. " _And my deck chief wants to look at whatever the hell you use for weapons._ "

This was a grand opportunity to take a good look at their FTL technology. From what they understood from what their engineers salvaged from the Cylon ships, it was more accurate and pinpoint then their hyperdrives, able to place a ship inside an asteroid field and leave with ease.

And they had no idea if an Immobilizer-418 could prevent it from jumping away. Such technology would give them an incredible advantage against other foes to the Remnants… and _very_ dangerous if in the wrong hands.

"I believe a technology trade may be in store… but that is something we can discuss in person." He said, "Would you prefer we come to you, or for you to dock with the _Visage_?"

" _We'll launch a Raptor. I'll be there with the President in an hour._ " Adama said, as the Captain rose an eyebrow.

' _Their head of government is within the fleet?_ ' He thought, ' _That's not a good thing… their situation may be more dire than I believed..._ '

"We shall await to receive you then, _Visage_ out." He said, before he turned back to the Comm officer. "Comms, get in contact with Bastion. Get Grand Admiral Pellaeon on the link."

"Aye, sir."

"And contact Jaden - I want him down in the hangar with me for the meeting. And assemble a battalion as well."

* * *

 **Colonial Raptor**

 **En-route to Star Destroyer _Visage_**

* * *

Four Marines, Billy Keikeya, President Roslin and Admiral Adama sat in the back of the raptor as it approached the destroyer. The ship was wider than Pegasus, but shorter and taller if the command tower was included. Regardless though, the _Visage_ was still a colossal vessel in colonial standards, and it was also obviously very advanced. One look and anyone could tell this was a vessel designed for war, simply that.

"That… that is _very_ big..." Billy said as he looked out the window at the massive ship.

"There was a battlestar during the war." Adama said, "A lot bigger. A lot bulkier. I don't remember what happened to _Hel_ , but this thing is a midget compared." The Raptor entered the ventral hangar, setting down inside a black-lined floor. Dozens of white-armored men stood at attention as the Raptor landed, joined by a figure in a grey uniform, and another wearing a set of black and red armor.

"That's a lot of Marines." The pilot said, as the side hatch opened, allowing the Marines to exit first, followed by Adama and Roslin. Billy was the last one out, and their footsteps clicked on the hard black deck. "Captain Rosso, I presume?"

"Yes, and you must be Admiral Adama." Rosso said as he stepped forward with Jaden. "Welcome aboard the Star Destroyer _Visage_."

Adama gestured to Roslin. "This is Laura Roslin, President of the 12 Colonies." Roslin took Rosso's hand and shook it. "It's a pleasure. We thought we were the last humans left alive."

"Last?" Rosso asked, "Humans are a common sight throughout the galaxy, Madam President."

 _This_ info caused all of the Colonials to blink and recoil a bit. "Wait… a-across the _galaxy_?!" Roslin asked.

"Yes, hundreds of different human species from various worlds like Corellia, Coruscant, Alderaan." He said, "And that's not counting the other thousands non-human sentient species across known space."

"But...that doesn't make any sense."

"You can explain it to me in private, Madam President." Rosso said, "With your permission, I would like Commander Takeo and his engineers to take a look at one of your ship's FTL drives."

Adama nodded. "The Raptor has one on board." He said, "Short-range, but it's still an FTL drive."

"Thank you," Rosso said, before he nodded at Jaden as he pulled out a Datapad, "Since you're so willing to show us your engine, it's only fair that we do the same."

"As a show of good faith, we have the schematics of standard Hyperdrives downloaded here." Jaden said, handing Adama the pad, who accepted it. "If you need it, I can have someone run it through a translator program as well, since I have a feeling you don't understand Aurebesh."

"We don't have anything like this. You're going to have to run it through a translator so Chief Tyrol can understand what the hell this says."

"I figured as much, admiral." The group walked down the hangar, leaving Jaden to look at the Raptor. It reminded him, in a way, of the IDT and LAAT/i: a gunship/transport. And an FTL-capable one, no less. He was going to ENJOY this.

Jaden cracked his knuckles "Time for some magic," he said as he walked into the Raptor, "Engineering rule number one: don't break it if you can't put it back together… let's see what you've got..."

* * *

 **Later - _Visage_ Briefing room**

* * *

"The Galaxy has been through a great amount of turmoil in the past 40 years, Admiral, Madam President." Rosso informed as they sat in the briefing room of the _Visage_. "Ten years ago we just finished a galactic conflict against the Yuuzhan Vong - an alien race from another galaxy - and six years before that we had just finished _another_ conflict during the Galactic Civil War which lasted for 17 years. So I hope you can enlighten me as to who these Cylons are before the Empire - and possibly the Galactic Alliance - end up in yet _another_ war."

Adama let out a short breath. "The Cylons were created by us 60 years ago. We made them to make life easier on the 12 Colonies. They rebelled, and we fought them. Then they left at the end of the war about 40 years ago. About 7 months ago, they attacked the Colonies and nuked all twelve planets, killing 50 billion of our people."

The Imperial Captain recoiled slightly at that, " _50_ billion people?" he said, "From what I saw of your Battlestars they look like they could take on one of those starfish ships and win."

"They sabotaged the Fleet from within. They overwhelmed the Fleet, killing all but two of our ships, and _Galactica_ was being decommissioned, Captain. She's a museum."

Rosso blinked at that before sighing.

"And what about the other one? The big one that we saw when we arrived?" he asked.

"That's _Pegasus_. She's one of the newer, and undoubtedly the last of the _Mercury_ -class Battlestars," said Bill, "She's a damn good ship, but her previous Commander was driven insane and power hungry after the Fall,"

Roslin bristled slightly at the mention of the now late Helena Cain.

"We were mining for ores to produce new Vipers, but we were being harassed by Cylon Raiders until you arrived. We still need that ore for those Vipers."

"Well, if you wish you may return to the Canterse Spread to continue." Roso said, "The Star Destroyer _Goliath_ is on station there securing that Cylon vessel we disabled. And I'd be more than happy to have my vessel help protect your ships during your stay here."

Bill nodded at that, happy to have help.

"There is something I like to ask," said Roslin, and Rosso motioned for her to go on, "Have you ever heard of a planet called Earth?"

Rosso blinked at that, "Earth has a lot of meanings in the galaxy. In the most used term, it's a nice term for soil or dirt," he said, "We've never heard of a planet with that name though,"

"It's the homeworld of the 13th Tribe. We've been searching for it since the fall of the Colonies as a safe haven for our people." Roslin explained, while Rosso hummed in thought.

"Well… as I said, we've never heard of a planet with that name." He said, "However, I can put an inquiry to the Imperial Exploration Corps to keep an eye out for any worlds of that name. Do you have any leads on its location?"

"We've got a star map from Kobol, humanity's homeworld. I'll have Doctor Baltar send over the charts for you to look over for Earth's location."

The Colonials clearly thought 'Earth' existed. Then again, everyone thought a myth existed: the Vong thought Coruscant was their new homeworld at one point. Until their real one was found and they got booted off the planet.

"Thank you - and I'll send you star charts of known space of the galaxy." He said, "Last thing you'd want to do is accidentally pop up in the middle of Chiss space, or Force forbid territory controlled by the Hutt's."

There was a beep on the table, as Rosso hit the commlink. "What is it?"

" _Message from Command, sir._ " His XO said, " _Supreme Commander Pellaeon is on the line._ "

"Patch him through to the briefing room." the central holoemitter activated, and the Old Man of the Empire appeared as a hologram. " _Captain Rosso. You pulled me out of a meeting with the Moff Council._ " He smiled. " _I should promote you for that._ "

"Happy to help, sir." Rosso said. "But we _do_ have a bit of a situation over here…"

" _Report._ "

"The _Visage_ encountered several vessel of unknown origin engaging in battle." Rosso said, "After we aided one side, we discovered that these people are refugees from a star system called the Cyrannus System, and are on the run from a droid species called 'Cylons'. From what we've learned so far, these Cylons are obsessed with wiping them - and humanity in general - from known space."

" _I see._ " Pellaeon said, as he glanced at the other occupants of the room. " _And their chief representatives are sitting there?_ "

"Yes, sir." Rosso said nodding, "President Roslin, Admiral Adama, this is Grand Admiral Pellaeon, de facto leader of the Empire."

"He's the leader of the military?" Roslin asked.

" _I am the head of the military as well as the Council of Moffs._ " Pellaeon corrected, " _Don't worry, Madam President, I'm a fair man._ "

"Admiral Pellaeon is a veteran of the Clone Wars, the Galactic Civil War, the Yuuzhan Vong and is responsible for the Imperial Remnants even existing." Rosso elaborated, "And he's the last… well, _known_ protege of Grand Admiral Thrawn, the greatest military mind the Empire ever had."

" _You claim that you were ousted from your home by these Cylon droids?_ " Pellaeon asked for confirmation. " _What do you know about them?_ "

"We made them, they now have organic models and have multiple copies of each model." He said. "They also nuked our colonies into submission."

Pellaeon did not look pleased at that. In fact, he looked downright angry. Not good. For whoever made him mad.

" _I… see..._ " He said, " _Admiral Adama… if possible, would you be able to provide us with the coordinates to your home star system?_ "

Roslin and Adama blinked, glancing at one another before he turned back to the Admiral. "Yes… why?"He asked.

" _Because if that star system lies outside Alliance jurisdiction, I think the Moff's will be more than happy to help you take it back._ " He said.

 _This_ bit of news caused both Roslin and Adama to look at the Imperial Commander-in-Chief with suprise, even Captain Rosso rose an eyebrow at the statement. "S-Sir?" The Captain asked, "How-"

" _Let's be honest, Captain - the council is_ always _looking for a way to flex our military muscle._ " Pellaeon said, " _These Cylons engaged in combat with an Imperial warship, for them that would be more than enough for an excuse to invade._ "

"But what about the rest of the Galactic Alliance?" Rosso asked.

" _Not only are they still recovering from the Yuuzhan Vong war and the recent conflict with the Kilik Hives, but they've got their own problems with the rebellions around the Corellian System._ " He said, " _I hope that perhaps dealing with these Cylons will distract the Moff's from any ideas of getting involved with that potential hornet's nest._ "

He then glanced at the two Colonials " _For a long time the Galactic Empire has been known as conquerors… now, we have the chance to be liberators._ " He said, " _We'll get your worlds back, and teach these Cylons a lesson they won't soon forget._ "

"I hope you've got the firepower to take twelve planets from an entrenched force." Adama said.

Pellaeon smirked slightly… and for some reason, Adama was reminded of… himself. " _We may not be at the same height we were back before the civil war with thousands of star systems and planets supporting us, but_ _we have more than enough firepower to liberate a solar system of 12 planets, Admiral._ " He said, " _We'll make the Cylons learn that when you anger the Empire, you wake a sleeping rancor that you should not have angered. If you wish, we can take your refugees to safety at Bastion while you join the attack force to reclaim your worlds._ "

"Bastion is our capital, and the center of Imperial territory." Rosso said, "It's the safest place they could be, under the protection of the entire Imperial Armada."

The Colonial Leaders both nodded at that, the news that a Galactic Player is willing to help them reclaim their world was too good to be true.

"But, what about the Radiation from the Nukes?" said Billy, and everyone turned to him, "The Cylons destroyed many of the city centers with nukes, and it's possible there is high levels of radiation still on the planets,"

" _That won't be a problem._ " He said, " _After 5000 years, we're used to cleaning up nuclear fallout. The galaxy has not been a peaceful place, young man. I will lead the fleet on board the_ Redemption _. I've needed to stretch my legs anyways._ "

"So the RHC _Redemption_ Battlegroup will be heading out then?" Rosso asked.

" _I believe they'll be able to handle the Cylons till the Moff's agree to send in more forces._ " Pellaeon said, " _A Battlegroup of six Star Destroyers and a_ Revenge _-class Heavy Carrier could secure an entire sector afterall._ "

"As soon as we're ready, _Galactica_ will join your fleet, Grand Admiral." Adama said, "Cyrannus is our home. We should do some of the heavy lifting."

" _Then I look forward to seeing your ship in combat, Admiral Adama!_ " Pellaeon said, " _This should be an interesting battle, to say the least. We'll be there in a few days. Bureaucratic penpushers keep trying to tie me to a desk, but they're not going to succeed!_ "

The link cut out, and Adama chuckled. "Seems I'm not the only one who hates red tape."

There was another beep on the console, as Rosso hit it. "Go." He said.

" _Hey, uhh… Captain?_ " Jaden spoke up, " _Could ya tell those Colonials I could use some… well, help down here?_ "

"What's going on, Commander?" Adama asked.

Rosso facepalmed before realizing the likely cause. "Don't tell me you broke their ship." He muttered, "Grand Admiral Pellaeon is going to be here in a few days, and the last thing I want to tell him is that you broke one of the Colonial's shuttles!"

"It's called a Raptor, Captain." Adama said, "It's an electronic warfare/assault gunship. If he broke it, I'm sure chief Tyrol can fix it."

" _No, didn't break it… yet at least._ " Jaden said with a groan. " _That Damned FTL drive of theirs is giving me problems. It's not like anything we've ever dealt with before, it sure as hell isn't anything like a Hyperdrive, I can confirm_ that _much._ "

"I hate to tell you this, Commander, but even WE don't know how that damn thing works, and we've been making FTL drives for 500 years." Roslin admitted. "The inventor took everything but the specifications on how to build one to her grave. The closest anyone got to figuring out how it worked was killed during the Cylon War."

"Oh, that's just peachy, Madam President!" Adama muttered.

Rosso tried to hide his amusement. He failed. "Wait a second, don't we have some reclusive researcher on Bastion?" He asked Jaden, "You know, the one who keeps calling us 'stagnant idiots'?"

" _You mean Sapiens?_ " Jaden asked, " _Yeah, I met the guy a few times. He use to be part of the Imperial Super Weapons Division. Had a hand in making the Death Stars, Sun Crusher,_ Eclipse _,_ Eye of Palpatine, _pretty much all of them. Heck I heard he even helped design the_ Executor _-class_."

"Super genius." Rosso said nodding, "Won't work with the Imperial military because, quote, 'we keep fucking up with his shit' or 'won't let him finish because we want it NOW'. Always bitches about the E-11 and how we rushed it into service instead of just waiting for him to finish it. Commander, I want you to get him here. If Admiral Adama will lend you one of his pilots and a Raptor, we could have him here before Admiral Pellaeon gets here."

" _Got it, I'll get ready. Got the coordinates here._ " Jaden said.

"Is this man worth it?" Adama asked.

" _Sapiens is one of the most brilliant minds the Empire ever had,_ " Jaden said, " _He come up with the basics for most of the Empire's most destructive weapons during the civil war and the Vong war… the Moff's just kept pissing him off since we'd always get his best toys blown up in the most absurd ways... to which I agree._ " He rolled his eyes, " _A two-meter wide exhaust port,_ really?!"

"Alright, Commander, you've made your point." Adama said, "I'll let you come back with us to Galactica; Racetrack can take you to...Bastion to pick up your super genius. We could use all the help we can get."

"I presume we can hammer out the more formal agreements later, Captain?" Roslin asked, "I would like to speak to the Quorum of Twelve to tell them the good news, and I think the teams on _Pegasus_ need to finish making those Mk VII Vipers. If we're going back, you're going to need all the help we can give you."

"Of course." Rosso said nodding, "I look forward to seeing how well you Colonials fight in the days to come."

* * *

 **Several Days Later - Bastion**

* * *

"So… this is where he lives?" Racetrack asked as she flew the Raptor down towards the planet, with Jaden standing behind her.

"Yeah. He likes to stay out of the major population centers." He said, "I sent him a message warning we were coming, so we shouldn't get shot out of the sky by those automated AA turrets of his."

"AA GUNS? Seriously? The man must HATE visitors."

"Yeah, the only ones he lets in are the Girl Scouts. He likes their cookies."

Racetrack STARED at Jaden as the Raptor entered the atmosphere, heading for one of the mountain ranges.

The Raptor flew towards a large white building, built into the mountain where many, MANY AA turrets, mounting mass drivers, rotary blasters and missile launchers and put down on the rocky path leading to the entrance. "Holy. Shit."

"Yeah, he can be a paranoid bastard," Jaden said as the hatch opened. "Well… let's go meet the most brilliant and insane man of the Empire." He stepped out, as he remained on the path as he walked towards the entrance to the compound.

The door opened, and they were greeted by an OOM command droid, painted primarily black, carrying a strange rifle that looked like a hybrid of the Colonials assault rifles and a blaster. "Master Sapiens is expecting you. Bad idea to keep him waiting."

"OOM-2, you KNOW I don't like being called that! I'm not your master!"

"Good to see you too," Jaden said, walking past the Droid as he entered the compound. "Sapiens! Glad you got my message. How you doing?"

A human man approached the Imperial commando/engineer, hobbling on a cane that Jaden had never seen him use before. The last time they met, he used a wheelchair, with actual wheels. His hair was all gray, mostly due to stress rather than old age, but he was only two years younger than Pellaeon, making him a VERY old man.

"Good to see you, too, Jaden." Sapiens said nodding, "I got your message, and I have to wonder...are you just trying to rope me back into working for incompetent fools again?" Sapiens waved his hand before Jaden could object. "I know, Pellaeon's a good man, but the Moffs are IDIOTS!"

"Fair enough, but in this case the Moff's aren't involved at all." Jaden said, "This is gonna be between you, me, Pellaeon, and our… new friends."

"New Friends?" Sapiens asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We've made contact with another human species from a star system called Cyrannus, called themselves the Twelve Colonies of Kobol." Jaden informed, "The ones we met are refugees after most of their people were wiped out by a Droid race they created called Cylons. Admiral Pellaeon is approving for Imperial involvement to help retake the Cyrannus system from the Cylons."

"Interesting… but what does this have to do with me?" Sapiens asked.

"Several things, involving Colonial and Cylon tech." Jaden said, "They use a different form of Faster-than-light travel… one which allows for pinpoint 'jumps' they call them, and to my best understanding are completely unaffected by Gravity Wells. And even more… those Cylons? They're _organic_ in nature - fighters, starships… they even have a few humanoid-models from what we understand."

Sapiens hmmed in interest. "Ground rules." He said, "One: until I say I'm done, no one takes SHIT. I don't care if it functions, unless I say it's done, you leave it where it lays. That embarrassment with the E-11 is not happening again. Two: full disclosure. I get every bit of intel you've got on these people. I want to know who I'm working with. Other than that, we're good. Just let me call my ship and we can get moving."

"Done and done," Jaden said nodding, "Though you can hitch a ride with us in the Raptor, you may want to see this FTL stuff in person."

"Then I'll just bring a small package. OOM! Make sure everyone sticks to their maintenance routine! DT-45 had gummed up gearing last time, and she didn't say shit about it until I found out!"

"Got it!"

Sapiens hobbled over to a bench, fitting something over his right leg before walking normally over to a crate. "Help me get this thing into that Raptor, will ya?"

"Didn't know you needed the cane."

"I prefer it. It's a reminder." He tossed it to Jaden, who noticed the careful designs. At the top was a sphere, on top of a cone. Under them...Rough carvings of the _Arc Hammer_ , _Sovereign_ , _Eclipse_ , _Executor_ and _Galaxy Gun_. He held it from a handle, probably taken from an E-11 blaster.

' _Hell of a Reminder..._ ' Jaden thought before he and Sapiens walked back towards the Raptor.

* * *

 **Later - RHC _Redemption_ Battlegroup**

 **Julevian System**

* * *

The RHC _Redemption_ Battlegroup wasted no time to arrive at the Julevian System, positioning it just over the Canterse Spread where the Colonial mining vessels continued on mining the resources from the asteroids. To the Colonials, the presence of the Battlegroup was rather awe-inspiring, seeing the 4,000 meter long _Revenge_ -class Heavy Carrier eclipsing the sun behind it, joined along with the two _Imperial I_ -class Star Destroyers _Allecto_ and _Maximum_ , and four smaller _Victory II_ -class Star Destroyers _Protector_ , _Furious_ , _Warlord_ , and _Vanguard_. The Battlegroup was also joined by the already present _Imperial II_ -class Star Destroyers _Goliath_ and _Visage_.

Waiting for them were the Colonial mining ships Monarch and _Majahual_ , as well as the largest surviving Colonial warship: the _Mercury_ -Class _Pegasus_ , currently taking in loads of ore by the metric fuckton for Viper production. Something that the Imperials were, understandably, jealous of, as they didn't have the facilities to produce TIE fighters on their capital ships. Or anything, really.

Palpatine needed to be shot for screwing up THAT badly.

This was the sight which greeted Sapiens and Jaden as their Raptor popped back into existence near the asteroid field. "Well what do ya know, the Admiral beat us here." Jaden mused as he looked out the window.

"Probably left the second he got the call." Sapiens said, "Where's the Colonial flagship? I want to get to work as soon as possible."

"Well, _Galactica's_ back with the fleet, but _Pegasus_ is here." Racetrack pointed at the massive battlestar taking in shuttles full of titanium.

"Now THAT is a ship built to intimidate! Put us down!"

"These Battlestars really remind me of the _Dreadnought_ -class," Jaden mused as Racetrack moved the Raptor towards _Pegasus_. "Similar design aside from the flight pods… and bigger obviously."

The Raptor entered the flight pod, flipping over before putting down on a pad. "This is far more efficient than an _Imperial_." Sapiens said, "Don't get me wrong, an ISD is nasty and NO ONE wants to get near one unless you're suicidal, but I've seen reports of botched up landings by TIE pilots thanks to that STUPID underbelly hangar! This? PERFECT for wave offs and a lot better for compartmentalization. Can't blow up the entire ship if it's not at the center, can you?"

The ISD was a battleship, first and foremost, and the carrier aspect was simply tacked on. But a battlestar was a perfect hybridization of a carrier/battleship: heavily armed, heavily armored and with larger aviation facilities than any other ship in the same size class.

"Hmm, maybe, though I'd still stick with an ISD myself." Jaden said shrugging as they were lowered down into the hangar. "Intimidation does have its uses after all." He then blinked before he grunted a bit. "Ah, shit..." he muttered as he rubbed his forehead.

"What?" Sapiens asked, "You sense something?"

"Fuckloads of negative emotion… not surprising after what they've been through..." Jaden said, "Don't worry, I can handle it."

"Damned Force users. All your powers have done is cause more trouble than they're worth."

"What, think I don't know that?" Jaden asked with a small smirk, "Why else do ya think I barely use them?"

The Raptor entered the hangar, and the hatch opened, allowing them to exit the ship. They were met by a dour looking man, who looked like he didn't want them on his ship. "Commander Takeo, I presume." He said, "I'm Commander Gardner, commander of Pegasus." Before Jaden could greet him, Gardner laid out his view of the law. "Let's get one thing straight. I don't want you on my ship. This ship needs to run like a fine-tuned watch, and your being here will disrupt that."

"God, man, you need to get your head out of the engine room!" Sapien said rolling his eyes.

Gardner glared at Sapiens, who exited the Raptor. "And who are you?"

"Your better." He said, "You're not the ship's commanding officer. You're just holding the position down until your Admiral picks the right man to replace you. So take the ego and shove it up your ass!"

" _He_ is Sapiens," Jaden said, before a yelling match could get out. "He's the greatest engineer the Empire has ever had, we're going to help perform some inspections and figure out how to make your vessels more up to modern specs."

Gardner started the old man down, then broke eye contact. "Disrupt my ship, I throw you off."

"Throw us off, and you have to deal with Admiral Adama. Who will destroy you." Sapiens' smile didn't quite reach his eyes. But Gardner was intimidated enough to flee. "30 years of dealing with Palpy comes in handy."

"That they do." Jaden said nodding as he looked at his watch, "I'll leave ya to it, Sapien - I need to head back and meet with Boc on _Visage_ \- need to brief him on the situation."

Sapiens nodded at that and went to do his job, while Jaden boarded the Raptor. They had a long week ahead of them afterall.

* * *

 **117Jorn: Once again we wrote so much we had to split this up into two chapters. 16,000 words will do that after all.**

 **Ron the True Fan: (Evil laughter) Oh, I'm going to enjoy this**.

 **Patriot-112: As am I...**

 **117Jorn: Don't wait to long for the next chapter! So until next time…**

 **Everyone: Ja Ne!**


End file.
